1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting apparatus for use in, for example, a flat device display, and a method of producing the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light emitting apparatus having an organic electroluminescence (EL) device as a self light emitting device has been recently attracting attention because of its potential to serve as a flat device display. The organic EL device is obtained by laminating at least a first electrode, a stack layer including an organic light emitting layer, and a second electrode in the stated order on a substrate. The organic EL device is liable to cause the deterioration of its properties owing to moisture or oxygen; a trace amount of moisture peels the stack layer off of an electrode layer, and the peeling is responsible for the occurrence of a dark spot. In view of the foregoing, the organic EL device is covered with an etching glass cover, a sealing agent is stuck to the periphery of the resultant, and the inside of the resultant is mounted with a moisture absorbent so that moisture infiltrating from a sealing surface is absorbed by the moisture absorbent. As a result, the lifetime of the organic EL device is secured.
The realization of a thin, space-saving flat device display using the organic EL device requires a reduction in space of the moisture absorbent around a light emitting area. An example of a method of sealing the organic EL device while eliminating the need for the moisture absorbent is a method involving laminating a sealing layer on the second electrode. A high-performance sealing layer for preventing moisture or oxygen from infiltrating into the stack layer is requested.
A silicon oxynitride film obtained by a CVD method or a sputtering method, or a sealing layer obtained by laminating ceramic and an organic film has been specifically proposed as a sealing layer for an organic EL device. Moisture or oxygen can be shielded by using any one of those sealing layers each formed of an inorganic material for an organic light emitting layer.
By the way, in the production of an organic light emitting apparatus having such organic EL device, from the viewpoint of a reduction in production cost, plural organic light emitting apparatuses are produced on a large substrate, and then division (separation) is performed.
Each of the following proposals has been made as a method of dividing individual organic light emitting apparatuses from a large substrate on which plural organic light emitting apparatuses are formed.
Japanese Patent No. 3,042,192 describes the following invention: scribing and breaking are sequentially performed from both surfaces of a bonded substrate in the division of the substrate so that damage to the substrate in a dividing step is reduced.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-181825 describes the following invention: upon production of organic light emitting apparatuses by plural patterning, a pressure transmitting portion for transmitting a pressure in a breaking step from one substrate to the other substrate is formed, whereby a problem of defective sectioning of the substrate can be solved.
However, when individual organic light emitting apparatuses are divided by employing a general scribing approach from a substrate on which plural organic light emitting apparatuses are formed, the peeling or cracking of a sealing layer occurs at a position where the apparatus is to be divided. As a result, moisture or a gas component infiltrates into a stack layer, thereby leading to the deterioration of display. None of Japanese Patent No. 3,042,192 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-181825 describes measures for a reduction in occurrence of the peeling and cracking of a sealing layer formed of an inorganic material at a position where the apparatus is to be divided.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an organic light emitting apparatus that can be divided without receiving damage to a sealing layer such as peeling or cracking in a step of dividing individual organic light emitting apparatuses from a substrate on which plural organic light emitting apparatuses are formed, and a method of producing the apparatus.